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On 11/28/2021 at 9:28 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

This is an exciting development and progression in your blackwater tanks. Well done! The puffers seemed to really change their color with the addition. Any noticeable changes in behaviors?

They have been coming out in the open more but that’s been since I added the dither fish and leaves. Wasn’t able to keep a good eye on them today but we’ll see!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Been busy with other projects, not that my 2 blackwater tanks have been ignored just no new updates. Kinda trying to keep my hands out of them as much as possible and let them season out for awhile #stt 

I in essence did some more blackwater set ups. 3 of themE5272D1A-42EE-4992-B759-930EE46E101C.jpeg.0bb8b41afa6130b4b6125d069dcb8ecf.jpeg

will be using water from my 125G blackwater for top offs and water changes so all 3 will stay tea colored at least.

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@Zenzo and @Cory answered my question tonight on the live stream about blackwater tanks. Thank you so much for the info! One of the things he mentioned to get the orange/ tan look is using more of a spotlight effect rather than normal plant light from one end to the other.

before on 125G9A2E700E-072A-4EC7-A46B-31002FCDFCAE.jpeg.591502ed22ccf59c964521f78ec5e970.jpeg

afterE1768A89-5D06-4F0F-BB97-DA670D06BE95.jpeg.3862513aa6132e736fb44f9bc01d661c.jpeg

before on 20G4AA49395-4089-4120-A0E5-6295802105FF.jpeg.450b326e93dad29712e672e5131800d6.jpeg

 

after75CA07BE-8B9D-4A25-BAAE-6BC6671D839A.jpeg.42217a8f9db9ffd0f960846afe4c3f18.jpeg

The 125G is amazing difference not coming through exactly but it’s such a orange/ tan coloration IRL. The 20G I’m not super happy with my solution but I will probably take care of that tomorrow if I make it to the store and get a new light.

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Got update on the 20G. Bought a new lamp for this today and it changed the color drastically. This tank always seemed to be weak on the color, I figured it was the oak leaves instead of IAL. But again, wow what a difference!

The 20G before EBAD313E-9D92-403F-A9E0-71C99F9A399F.jpeg.7de78e7f6211fa1773a44a7caa029d6e.jpeg

after80FFB1D4-E2AA-4BAB-B3EA-9E166B4BB85A.jpeg.443c0ab1aecfe6880ab9e86fbd67f91e.jpeg

(sorry for the weird angle it’s best one for glare)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

You've really inspired me! Our water parameters are similar and I've been thinking about Blackwater a lot as an approach to my SA 75 setups. I already use magnolia leaves for my shrimp, but have acres of botanicals to use and hopefully compensate for all the water hardness here. 

Not sure if you've seen Joey's piranha tank (king of diy), but I love the lightning he did. Bright in two areas with plants (anubis I think) and dark in a more open water portion where the fish hang out most. I could watch that tank for hours.

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@Jawjagrrlmy TDS out of the tap can top 300😲

My fish **love** botanicals, and I did my last dirt tanks without even sifting out larger pieces of wood. Huge difference in the richness of the coloring in the water, and best part?

I haven't had any sick fish or snails. Best of all worlds.

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On 4/1/2022 at 8:10 PM, Torrey said:

@Jawjagrrlmy TDS out of the tap can top 300😲

My fish **love** botanicals, and I did my last dirt tanks without even sifting out larger pieces of wood. Huge difference in the richness of the coloring in the water, and best part?

I haven't had any sick fish or snails. Best of all worlds.

Hoping for that health benefit too! How important do you feel monitoring TDS is? I don't know my value there, just that my tanks are happy. Worth getting a meter? 

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On 4/1/2022 at 6:58 PM, Jawjagrrl said:

Hoping for that health benefit too! How important do you feel monitoring TDS is? I don't know my value there, just that my tanks are happy. Worth getting a meter? 

I got a free meter with my purchase of my ZeroWater filter (strongly recommend!) 

I discovered a correlation between cyanobacteria and TDS, as Mmiller had suspected. I now top off with ZeroWater (we live in the desert, lots and lots of evaporation) and replace water during water changes with a mix of ZeroWater and my tap, after measuring TDS in the tank and the tap. Tanks with TDS still over 150 will pop up with a bit of cyanobacteria, and not anywhere near as much as when the 3 tanks had TDS almost at 1,000😲

I haven't had to use antibiotics to treat it either!

Snails are growing healthier, larger shells and my sponge filters are more efficient.

I'm using a Pür filter to reduce chloramine and other contaminants from my kitchen sink faucet, and mix that with the ZeroWater instead of remineralizing... it takes a little more math, and it's saving me money and my fish are happy. So are the snails, and the scuds 😉 the turtle is thrilled, and shell growth has improved.

I almost have enough confidence to try another colony of shrimp!

I was really surprised to discover my Walstad inspired tank's pH had dropped to 6.4, even with TDS over 200, thanks to all those tannins (tannic acid for anyone not aware). pH is holding steady, even as I slowly get the TDS a little lower. Calcium is responsible for more than half of the TDS in our water,according to the lab reports, so the endlers are reproducing well and snail shells aren't pitting. It definitely requires a bit more monitoring to tweak a balanced tank... and the payoffs are 100% worth the extra work up front. I got away without doing anything other than top offs for 3 months after surgery. Now, thanks to the TDS meter, I can make a more informed choice of how to utilize my limited energy. I'm back up to 13 tanks, 10 with animals in them who are thriving. All my plants are thriving. I only have cyanobacteria left in 2 tanks. Even my pico tanks have achieved some sort of stability.

Was I absolutely gutted when I lost my carbon rilli and blue rilli colonies when I got covid?

Yes.

Is my health back to 2019 parameters?

no.

But with the TDS meter and Aquarium Co-op test strips, I feel like I am headed in the direction of success... even if I have had to push off some of my goals, you know?

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On 4/1/2022 at 8:05 PM, Jawjagrrl said:

You've really inspired me! Our water parameters are similar and I've been thinking about Blackwater a lot as an approach to my SA 75 setups. I already use magnolia leaves for my shrimp, but have acres of botanicals to use and hopefully compensate for all the water hardness here. 

Not sure if you've seen Joey's piranha tank (king of diy), but I love the lightning he did. Bright in two areas with plants (anubis I think) and dark in a more open water portion where the fish hang out most. I could watch that tank for hours.

I’m so glad to hear this, blackwater is so amazing to me and the benefits of everything has really opened my eyes. It’s a fun and exciting rabbit hole 🕳. 
 

I have a new darkwater set up I’ll be posting about here in a couple days. And I think the fish in it really shine against the darkness. 😁

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60G Black water with electric blue acara 

So far of all my dark tanks this one really catches the feel of what I love about blackwater tanks. This is still a work in progress I’ll be adding more/ different botanicals, working with filtration, adding more water lettuce (if needed), upgrade lighting, and one or two new fish/ snails.

plants on this set up include: some Amazon swords, water lettuce, duck weed, and some pothos . 
hardscape has caribsea cichlid sand, an assortment of rocks, 4 medium pieces mopani, lots of driftwood branches, lots of accent roots, and some Indian almond leaves.837B1B8C-142D-47E4-A130-033D7F893B9E.jpeg.f5ca2ce2b4fdae48432c86bb1ad463cd.jpeg

9C92CA62-CB35-4C31-B721-EE319D249ECE.jpeg.fd94221ccbab5cfe66d7ad1f2f61f0ee.jpeg

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B7975A04-25DC-4026-B631-BADFBA9ACBB8.jpeg.d18aea7e4b316e38d0c9e2453d9bcb43.jpeg

this is a floating log about 2 years in a tank⬇️

A152724C-C3EC-4963-ACF2-0BCB47E0B84B.jpeg.360c4b9836ac603f293121cca8a2c761.jpeg
 

For stocking I have a bristlenose pleco, and 6 electric blue acaras 432C90F5-2F91-4DD4-818D-B7DF87F17322.jpeg.d928582b77f0189fae7eae27ed289d1e.jpeg

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FD074C32-0BF1-44B5-8BD6-D3EF5E930C32.jpeg.9654d02265039545345414819c90725a.jpeg

Edited by Atitagain
Added pics
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These electric blue acara look amazing especially against the dark spots and weaving through the branches ohhhhHHH weEEEE!!! Perfect fish for blackwater? Maybe, I absolutely love the rummys and cardinals too!

CE66EDA6-F4D3-4C29-A945-F88371383D08.jpeg.4df596a9a5e93e8e2862caeffd1f8553.jpeg

im trying to get more pics but they are very active and of course when I get close they wag tails front center glass.

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